_Nom._ Fj['o]rir tigir manna = _four tens of men_. _Gen._ Fjoegurra tiga manna = _of four tens of men_. _Dat._ Fj['o]rum tigum manna = _to four tens of men_. _Acc._ Fj['o]ra tiga manna = _four tens of men_. "This is the form of the inflection in the best and oldest MSS. A little later was adopted the _indeclinable_ form _tigi_, which was used adjectivally."--Det Oldnorske Sprogs Grammatik, af P. A. Munch, og C. B. Unger, Christiania, 1847. s. 330. Generally speaking, the greater part of the numerals are undeclined, even in inflected languages. As far as _number_ goes, this is necessary. _One_ is naturally and exclusively singular. _Two_ is naturally dual. The rest are naturally and exclusively plural. As to the inflection of gender and cases, there is no reason why all the numerals should not be as fully inflected as the Latin _unus_, _una_, _unum_, _unius_. * * * * * {277} CHAPTER XIII. ON THE ORDINAL NUMBERS. s. 331. The remarks at the close of the last chapter but one indicated the fact that superlative forms were found beyond the superlative degree. The present chapter shows that they are certainly found in some, and possibly in all of the ordinal numbers. _First._--In Moeso-Gothic, _fruma_, _frumist_; in Anglo-Saxon, _forma_, _fyrmest_; in Old High German, _vurist_; in Old Norse, _fyrst_; in New High German, _erst_. In all these words, whether in _m_, in _mst_, or in _st_, there is a superlative form. The same is the case with _pratamas_, Sanskrit; _fratemas_, Zend; [Greek: protos], Greek; _primus_, Latin; _primas_, Lithuanic. Considering that, _compared with the other ordinals_, the ordinal of _one_ is a sort of superlative, this is not at all surprising. Between the words _one_ and _first_ there is no etymological relation. This is the case in most languages. _Unus_, _primus_, [Greek: heis], [Greek: protos], &c. s. 332. _Second._--Between this word and its cardinal, _two_, there is no etymological connexion. This is the case in many, if not in most, languages. In Latin the cardinal is _duo_, and the ordinal _secundus_, a gerund of _sequor_, and meaning _the following_. In Anglo-Saxon the form was _se odher_=_the other_. In the present German, the ordinal is _zweite_, a word etymologically connected with the cardinal _zwei_=_two_. Old High German, _andar_; Old Saxon, _othar_; Old Frisian, _other_; Middle Dutch, _ander_. In all these words we have the comparative form _-ter_; and considering that, _compared with the word first_, the word _second_ is a sort of {278} comparative, there is nothing in the circumstance to surprise us. The Greek forms [Greek: deuteros] and [Greek: heteros], the Latin _alter_, and the Lithuanic _antras_, are the same. s. 333. With the third ordinal number begin difficulties: 1. in respect to their form; 2. in respect to the idea conveyed by them.